Doc and the Magic

Peter May’s article titled “Rivers unfazed by slow start” had the potential to be shades of something right out of the Pravda circa 1918-1991. However, May was not willing to play the part of a loyal Soviet writer. While Doc points out that he was 1-6 once before and learned greatly from the experience May notes that that experience only lasted four more games. When Doc complains about how disruptive the Ben Wallace trade (2000) was to his time in Orlando May remembers that Doc was fired several seasons later (2004). While Doc continues to put a positive spin on everything, it's fascinating to see him explain the Orlando situation:

He cited previous clairvoyance: – "On the third day of [training] camp that year, I told my assistant coaches, 'Guys, we are in trouble as a team. You can see it all around us.’”

He saves face: “But I never panicked. I knew it was going to be tough and it was tough. But I knew the end was approaching.”

The aforementioned Ben Wallace complaint: "I never gave in on that. They brought in John Amaechi and Bo Outlaw and let Ben Wallace walk out the door. I was still young then and I didn't let go of that for a while. And that wasn't the best way to handle it. I knew after that, if things didn't go right, I wasn't going to be around. But I thought it was a fight worth fighting."

The Orlando Magic material is reminiscent of Rick Pitino throwing everyone from his Boston days (Antoine Walker, M.L. Carr, etc.) under the bus last spring. Although in Doc's defense he is far more subtle than Pitino and overall much less of a jerk. Regardless I'm not entirely confident in Doc.